Plan for Chris Calef

#1 O_O

great job Chris !!!!!!!!!!!!

#2 Wow, cool. I'll definitely buy an animation pack, I think tge's character animation features are something that could really use a few enhancements :)

If I could make a feature request, I'd say fix the spinning-in-place problem. It really bugs me that torque is the only engine that lets the character turn while standing still, without the character moving his legs at all. I don't think any other game engine that's come out in the past 6 years has done it that way.

#3 OK, I'll say right now, I want. Whats the damage going to be? Can I still afford a pair of inline skates, or will I have to forgoe the head protection? (Although I am sure my mates would say I could do without anyway...)

I'm never going to get time to work on my bike.

#4 yah, good point drew. I've also had a lot of frustration with the foot-sliding-while-moving issue. I can't think of any way to address that one except limiting the speed of the character to the speed of the animation, and then increasing the frame rate of the animation as necessary to make the player move faster or slower. Could still look weird, but not as weird as moonwalking.

This current animation pack is going to be all reaction, no self-directed motion like walking and turning, but maybe in the next one ...

@Mark: cheap. don't worry about it! $25 or $30 for the full set of animations plus scripting. Get the helmet, in fact get the helmet before you buy this!

As you can see in the simulations, gravity can be extremely dangerous.

@Anthony: thanks! should be out by early next week (barring unforeseen giant lurking bugs)

#5 Kuddos Chris! Can't wait to try it!!!!

#6 WOW! Ya beat me to it!

Very nice job, I too have been working on getting rag doll physics into torque, just using a way to have a player animated in all the ways a joint can move so arms and legs don't get twisted into odd angles then having nodes like eldow, hand, foot etc colide with objects... Hard to explain, But very nice Can't wait.

Max

#7 That's really, really, REALLY cool. What exactly are you going to make available?

I'd definitely pay 25 bucks for ODE-well-integrated-with-Torque, since I have an ODE project I want to make more torque-esque, and ODEItem seems to have several problems [not the least of which is I can't actually convince it to work...]

Great work!

Gary (-;

#8 Looks sweet! Quick questions though. Does the ragdoll stuff run realtime in the engine, or do you use it to create and export animations that are used by the engine?

#9 @Gary: (and everyone else) I may have misnamed this thread, I need to make it clear right now what this is and what it isn't. It is NOT ODE well integrated into Torque. That is on the list for a little farther down the road, and price point is not defined for that. What I'm doing right now is making animation packs using this tool, i.e. sets of .dsq sequences and scripts to help choose them in response to direction and amount of force.

There are a couple of arguments for using this approach, besides the obvious fact that it's an easier first step for me. The first of course is frame rate. If you plan on having a lot of this stuff going on, like in an RTS with bombs going off and units flying all over the place, then you don't want to do realtime ragdoll physics on everybody.

The second advantage is networking -- you aren't going to be sending your ragdoll animations over the network, but this is just dsqs, so everybody will see the same thing.

When: Next week. If all goes according to plan, early next week.

#10 Looks very cool, congratulations!

I really like this idea of "packs". It gives all of us indies some great features that we could never have had time to code on our own, and at bargain basement prices! Plus the system rewards the creators and gives them an incentive to provide support for their work, something that does not happen with resources.

Anyway, enough rambling. :)

#11 This is a really, really cool thing that we have been seeing Chris work on for a bit. This is not *the* ragdoll solution for Torque, this is, actually, kind of a bonus feature that I don't see touted many places, though it should be. This lets you beat the crap out of the orc guy in a tool, using real-time ragdoll, and then save sequences to DSQ's.

I won't steal any thunder, or I won't try to at least, but this is a really cool tool, because sometimes real-time ragdoll makes you say, "Woah that was sweet!" and sometimes you just look at it and say, "That looks stupid." The times when it is sweet...falling down stairs, etc. The times when it is not...the leg is bent around backwards. The advantage is going to be in blending these two tools. You have sequences that are pre-processsed ragdoll and you run them when a player dies. Then the first contact with a surface other than the feet switches the model over to real-time ragdoll so it will conform with the terrain, fall off a balcony etc. In the style of Indie development, this is Step 1. Not step N (where N is the ideal, 100% done, product), so nobody should be looking at this dissapointed. I actually see an application where you can tweek and save ragdoll sequences to your hearts content as a major plus to the engine.

#12 It looks like Pat explained.


This looks really cool. I agree that ragdoll physics has it weirdness happen sometimes where body parts bend in unimaginable ways.

Me can't wait to beat Kork to a pulp :)

#13

Quote: It looks like Pat explained.

Hmm, guess Pats comment made it very hazy for me.. (me==slow) :-)

This thing looks really cool, that Orc better understand there's no messing with gravity anymore...

But is this a tool that lets us create the .DSQs ourselfs or do we buy "pre-computed" ones..

#14 Since this is a tool for creating DSQ's what language is it written in? Will we be able to use this on the Mac?

#15 Okay okay, you're all set on dragging my entire plan out of me I see!
In answer to your questions:
1) this initial product is just a set of dsq animations, with scripting, for something like $25. It will work anywhere Torque works.
2) An intermediate tool that will be coming out later, probably for a higher price, is a modified ODE environment that, as Pat discussed, lets you create your own dsqs by modifying the skeleton and the applied forces through config files. This will let you refine the figure to match your own player model with more precision. ODE is in C/C++, it should work on the Mac as well, but I'll answer that for sure when I get closer.
3) Sometime in here probably after (2) but maybe before, we will be bringing out a ragdoll-in-torque using ODE onboard. Also probably for more than $25. I am making no promises as to when that will come out, due to the fact that I can imagine a lot of hassles to fix before it is entirely usable. But I promise the legs won't bend backwards. :-)

#16 Ahh, excellent info there Chris, nothing beats 'ye o'20 or what questions huh.. :)

Looks like you'll be a close friend to my wallet then..

Thanks

#17 @Jorgen: ha ha, yeah once it's out of the bag, it's ALL out of the bag, I see. And yes, the orc and his friends are going to learn what gravity is all about! Hope they have health insurance. :-P

#18 This looks so awesome. Between this stuff, the AI pack, and TSE milestones, All the packs and tools that came out here in Q4 of 04; this is definately the year of the Indie.

#19 Wow i feel bad for the orc.....he must reeeally been having a bad day....but that's a good thing for us =D


NEATOS!

#20 I'm really impressed.

This is going to be the one last thing that I will need to create my game when it is finished. Considering that my game will need good looking player on player collision, this tool will be very helpful down the line when it is intergrated into torque and not just a set of prefab animations.

I will be buying the first part though. If for no reason then to insure that development on this continues.

Good job Chris

On a side note: It is true that it's the quite people you need to look out for :)